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Portuguese immigrant women occupied a niche in Toronto's cleaning industry, including both domestic and building cleaning, from the 1960s to the 1990s. This thesis examines the working and organizational experiences of Portuguese women in these sectors. Women's labour was crucial to the Portuguese immigrant family economy. Their workplace activism was framed by their positions as wives and mothers dedicated to the financial well-being of their families. They also acted as female immigrant workers seeking justice and dignity in the workplace. Portuguese immigrant women had an effect on larger Canadian society by positively shaping the domestic and building cleaning sectors, influencing unions and politicians to respond to the concerns of immigrant workers, as well as influencing the community work agenda of social service agencies. Portuguese immigrant women actively shaped the day domestic cleaning occupation, and made it more contractual, and less of a 'servant' experience by limiting tasks, reducing hours, increasing their wages, cultivating their 'expertise' in the occupation, as well as establishing more equitable relationships with employers. Conversely, Portuguese building cleaners were contract workers, which meant job insecurity, and low wages. Portuguese women attempted to improve their working lives in this sector by forging links with community activists, joining unions, and calling on the state to act in their interests. Their activism was aided by a new progressive community agency and labour context in the 1970s. Influenced by the Christian Left, and new ideas about consciousness-raising community work, social service workers created new programs, such as ' Cleaners' Action', to help immigrants mediate their encounters with dominant society. As a result, progressive unions became more interested in organizing in the cleaning industry. Through the lens of Portuguese women's workplace experiences, my dissertation provides insight into the period after the Second World War, including the expansion of the service industry, the modernization of domestic work, how the more conservative economic context of the 1970s and 1980s impacted immigrants in building cleaning, how unions became more responsive to immigrant and female workers, the rise of progressive community work, and of immigrant women's labour activism within this context.

Last Modified: 2022-09-01